Just the way I am
by meniscus
Summary: rated for vocab, i don't want anyone complaining about it not being strong enough. V/B fic...terribly corny (sorry) maybe not the standard kind though. R
1. into the middle

I didn't invent these characters.Dragon Ball Z is obviously not owned by myself or anyone else I know personally. 

Note:My apologizes if this really bugs you.I know, I know, it's horribly corny and just for the record: I really never imagine Vegita like this at all.(This entire story is based on a screwed up dream I had.)

* * * *

"I do not believe you!I mean, I swear, you have the biggest ego in the universe!"Bulma shouted furiously back at Vegita.

"You knew what you were getting yourself into when you invited me to stay."Vegita replied.

"Fine then.LEAVE!"Bulma yelled, "GET THE FUCK OUT!"

"Fine then, woman!"Vegita snapped, getting up.

Bulma merely stared at him furiously.

Vegita turned, obviously reluctant to 'get the fuck out'.

"I still don't know what I did this time."He muttered sulkily.

Bulma made a noise of profound aggravation and glared at him.

A suddenly obvious fact suddenly came into light for Vegita:He was a prince, and she was a woman, a complete bitch too.But really, how the hell did she manage to push people around so much?Maybe because…because – Vegita stopped mid-thought, appalled at himself.

"I'm waiting for you to leave, how come you're not leaving?"She demanded through gritted teeth.

"Fine then!"Vegita said again, indignant."I'm leaving, see!Are you watching me?I am leaving, now!"

"No…you're not."Bulma had a very peculiar expression on her face, then after a second she said, "alright, I've changed my mind, you can stay…but only if you stay out of sight for the next few hours."

"I don't see any problem with that," Vegita said, realizing that all women were completely screwed up in their heads, and then as a last thought he added "Hey, how come you want me out of sight?"

Bulma looked him up and down, as if she was sizing him up.Vegita thought she could look—

Bulma cut into his thoughts.

"Alright Vegita, here's why, after me and—well, you know, a little after we broke up-" 

Vegita rolled his eyes, couldn't she just call him by his name?

"Anyways, I've met this new guy, he's really sweet…and I don't want you hanging around like an asshole and giving him the wrong impression," she finished in a hurry.

"Fine whatever, I just better not be able to you two when you start fu-"

"Vegita!He's interested in my _mind_, not my body…honestly."Bulma snapped, turning very slightly scarlet.

"Riiight, sure…" 

Bulma looked about to say something of the utmost contempt when three bangs were issued from the door.Bulma gave little squeal, dashed to a mirror down the hall and ran a quick hand through her hair.

"I've never heard you make such a disgusting sound in my life, woman, he must be pretty special," Vegita said loudly, turning in the opposite direction, but still catching a show of Bulma frantically yanking her neckline down and straightening her bra.

Vegita slammed the gravity room door and started doing one-armed push ups.He wondered vaguely if he'd ever get a woman to make that sound …hopefully not if she was anything like Bulma.

After about forty-five minutes, Vegita heard what sounded a lot like dishes breaking.There was some incoherent yelling…Vegita thought he heard Bulma say his name, but that made no sense, so he dismissed it as paranoia.

The shouting got more heated sounding, though Vegita still had no idea of what they were saying.Poor bugger, Vegita pitied the man outside who was obviously getting thrashed out beyond an inch of his life.

And then the yelling stopped.

Vegita stopped doing push-ups, got up and opened gravity room door and poked his head out.No front door had been slammed, as far as he could tell something very weird was happening.

For a moment, no sound.And then Vegita heard what sounded very much like muffled screams.

"_He's interested in my mind, not my body…honestly."_

The truth of the situation hit Vegita like a load of bricks.

"Hey, woman!"

--No answer.Vegita hurried to the bed door and tried to open it.It was locked.He took a few steps back, hoped to god he wasn't mistaken in what he was about to do –and rammed the door down with his shoulder.

Vegita himself had seen thousands of innocents be put to death, but for one of the few times in his life, the scene in front of his face made him feel utterly sick.

"YOU BASTARD!"He yelled at a blue-eyed man who was sitting stalk still his chair, his fly half way zipped.

The blinds to the room were drawn and it looked like everything breakable in the room was lying in pieces on the floor. The bed covers had been torn off and in the far corner, hugging her shaking self in a thin sheet was Bulma.

Vegita took one look at Bulma and suddenly had no idea what to do.But, seeing as he had to do something about this horrible thing, he reached over to the man and started punching him as hard as he dared.

And then Bulma started crying.Vegita was so shocked he dropped the man, who now had a broken nose, and simply stared at her, this did not seem real.

The man stumbled to his feet and tore out of the room.Vegita was about to go after him when Bulma cried, "don't leave me alone!Please, Vegita!"

Vegita heard the front door slam."I'm sorry…" he started, but she held up a hand for him to stop.

"No, don't apologize for anything, you were right, I was…stupid."Bulma laid her head against her tucked up knees and tried to sigh, only she started to cry again.Vegita noticed a bruise rising on her temple; and again, it didn't seem real. 

How could this happen to Bulma?Bulma wasn't supposed to do this!

"I should've…Oh, if I'd only…it's my fault, he probably thought that I-I"

Vegita sat down beside her and was about to say something contradictory when she started talking again.

"What's wrong with me!Why can't I have a decent relationship?I mean…"Bulma blew her nose on the edge of the sheet, "Vegita, you're a guy, what's wrong with me?"

Vegita opened his mouth and was about to say 'you're a bitch'…but it donned on him that he really didn't mind it that much.She wasn't a warrior, but somehow…somehow he could see unbelievable resilience and courage.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with you…You're not missing any arms or legs, I don't think you have any fatal diseases…maybe a few hurts right now but—"

"That's not what I meant…"

"I know it wasn't.And I also know what happened was not your fault.You get me, Bulma?I think you're really smart – too smart for a lot of guys…they probably don't see that.They just see a loud, irritating know-it-all, at best.I suppose mostly they might not even see that much if all they want is sex," Vegita stopped, and suddenly shut his mouth.What on earth was he saying?

* * * *

To be continued….(Bu-hahahaha!)

* * * *

So, what did you think?Gosh, I really ought to take that Dragon Ball poster off my ceiling, I think it's having subliminal effects on me.lol.Anyways, thanks for reading! Please, please, please review!(Or flame, flames are fine too if you really hate my subconscious that much ;0)


	2. take it or leave it

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Dragon Ball related except a poster and some key chains.(So obviously I didn't invent theses characters ;0)

Note: Kay, well…we were getting corny at the end of the first part, BUT that nothing *nothing* compared to bowl of much we're going to end up diving into by the end of this one….Ithink.(To the people that think I need to ease up on the cussing –don't worry, I'm on it.)

* * * *

"Thank you…you have no idea how much that means to me," Bulma sniffed, apparently not seeing anything strange about Vegita's last comments; and suddenly she put her head against Vegita's shoulder.

Her forehead was damp with sweat but she felt very cold to Vegita, for a second he wondered if he was supposed to something, maybe put his arm around her like he'd seen Goku and Chi Chi doing… Then again, maybe not.

"Hey – clean up this mess in here, I'm calling the five-o," Bulma said suddenly, getting up, carefully making sure the sheet covered her entirely.

"What?"Vegita said, Bulma's change of tone felt like a bucket of cold water had just splashed over his head. 

"You heard me, do something; make the bed, get all this stuff off the floor, do something."

"I most certainly will _not_.How dare you…I'm a prince!"

Bulma gave him a look that seemed insolent and mocking at the same time."Prince or no prince…you live here, show some responsibility!"

Vegita opened his mouth and shut it again."I live here…riiight," he replied, nodding condescendingly as he slowly picked up a frilly bra. 

Bulma snatched it away from him and muttered something about taking things too literally.

A few weeks past by, and neither of them said anything about what had happened.Bulma wished she could forget, but her nightmares wouldn't let her; Vegita, after looking back, could not believe himself and how he'd actually treated a woman like an almost equal – he viewed the incident as proof that he'd been on earth too long.

Regardless, one quiet afternoon, an incident that while not really violent, but perhaps even more humiliating took place in the household:

Bulma was doing the laundry when she thought she heard a strange noise coming from the gravity room.Bulma set down the clothesbasket and cautiously approached the door.The level was turned way down; there wasn't anything glaringly wrong outside the gravity room.Perplexed, Bulma pushed open the door and screamed at what she saw.

Vegita screamed even louder.Bulma immediately slammed the door and hurried away, her cheeks burning pink.

Inside the gravity room Vegita yelled "GODDAMNIT! YOU FUCKING BITCH! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! CAN'T-YOU-FUCKING KNOCK!"And then he started to shake a little.

After that, it seemed to Bulma that Vegita had disappeared into thin air. No matter what the time of day, he was nowhere to be found. The only proof she had of his existence was that a mysterious phantom raided her fridge ever other day or so.

She was glad of it too, as annoying as Vegita could be, he was still decent company.Well, as decent as he could be.Bulma visited Chi Chi and Goku, talked to all the other Dragon Ball Z fighters, and none of them had seen so much as a whisper of Vegita.

Finally, after a few more days, Bulma admitted to herself that she missed him.She had absolutely no idea why, he was forever patronizing her, refusing to do what she said, and for the most part simply wasting space.However, she would never forget how he'd been there when she needed someone.

So, after an age of musing, Bulma taped a little note the milk, hoping to get some sort of reply.

Bulma hadn't the faintest clue of what to say, but she settled on:

'Hey, it doesn't matter to me.I thought something was wrong with gravity room – that's all, I swear. 

As an after thought she added: And if I don't get some sign of life from you, you can bloody well go mooch off of Goku instead of eating all my food.

~Bulma'

The next morning she opened the fridge and found a reply to her note:

You're strange, woman. 

Bulma was surprised at how glad she was to see even those words written back to her.

Bulma wrote back: Come back.

Vegita jumped when he saw Bulma's second note that night.He could not fathom women sometimes.But…well, there was something else.He couldn't place it very well at all. It was as if he _wanted_ to hear her voice again. But that was ridiculous! 

Then, before he thought about what he was doing, Vegita reached out and took the note off the milk; he liked the way her handwriting flowed.

The next morning, Bulma woke up and found no note.But the one she'd left was missing, so Vegita _had_ come. 

Bulma wondered if she should simply throw his things out the door, and kick him out, or maybe stay up all night and wait for him.In the end she decided to write another note, she figured, even if he wasn't replying, he would still hear what she had to say.

Vegita, she wrote tentively, we all miss you –

"I doubt that."

Bulma turned around so fast her chair tipped over."Vegita!You're-"

Vegita was standing over her."Morning," he said flatly, and offered her his hand.

Bulma got up without assistance; Vegita went and leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms folded.

"So…"They both started at almost the same time.

* ** *

To be continued…

* ** *

Thanks for reading.I hope you likes it so far.This is my first DBZ fic (for anyone who cared)Anyway, if anyone got offended by this, sorry.I am well aware that this chapter was pointless, HOWEVER, as you might have been able to detect, IT'S LEADING UP TO STUFF, KAY? (whew)


	3. something new

Disclaimer: I of course, am far too lazy to make own characters, so…I'm using the ones in DBZ.

Note: I haven't worked on this one for a long time.Going back and looking at it…Well, all I can truly say is this:Vegita's character has only two excuses: one, he's gone Bonkers (with a capital B) or, (the truth) this is all just a weird dream I had so naturally it makes no sense at all.

****

"You're back…" Bulma said, looking Vegita up and down.He was a sorry sight indeed.

"Of course I am, I had matters to attend to," Vegita replied casually.This was, obviously a lie, Vegita had actually ended up sleeping under several bridges and had come by only one shower since the last time he'd seen Bulma.All of the above annoyed him enormously.

"Oh really?Well, I feel sorry for the other parties involved," Bulma turned and pulled out a box of cereal, her turned back hiding her smile.

Vegita looked around and shifted a little."Well, are you going to make me food or what?" he demanded.His hair was even wilder then usual and he felt oddly short in Bulma's kitchen.

"I didn't ask you to come into the light of day so you could order me around."

Vegita looked around the kitchen hungrily and then, after being ignored some more by Bulma, started to leave.

"What's the matter?Too scared to have breakfast with me?"

"Not your life woman, just too high and mighty."He turned and smirked at her.

"Well then, at least take some sort of shower, you stink."

Vegita opened his mouth, but then thought better of using that corner of his vocabulary on Bulma.This wasn't exactly the 'welcome back' he'd expected.

Irritably he left the room.

Bulma sat down, equally irritable at the table with her cereal and coffee.She hadn't meant for things to go like _that_.

It wasn't until late afternoon that Bulma saw Vegita again."Hey!" she said, "come with me, I'm going to teach you how to cook."

"W-_What?_" Too late –Bulma had already dragged him into the kitchen.

"Bulma!I am Not cooking!I'm a fucking _prince!_"

"We are going to make roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and salad got it?"She continued, ignoring him.

"Woman!"Vegita cried, utterly aghast.

"This is measuring cup," Bulma said smoothly.

Soon, Vegita was chopping up vegetables, and inquiring about various metallic objects."What is _that _?" 

"That is a whisk.You are going to make the potatoes with it."

Vegita groaned.

"What's that?"

"That's a spat Chula, and that's an eggbeater, those are salad tossers…"

At long last the meal was done, and the kitchen looked like a war zone. But, there was food on the table.

"Really good food," at that, was how Bulma put it."Damn you, your gravy is better than mine!"

"What's that?Could you say that a little louder?" Vegita smirked.

"No…Oh, hey –Vegita, want some wine?"

"Some what?"

"Of course you do.Here try some of—*POP* this."

Bulma poured two wine glasses and gave one to Vegita.Who stared at the red smelly stuff for a moment.It was good quality, though he didn't know it, and he quickly glugged the whole thing down -- and then nearly fell off his chair when the whole world swirled around him.

He and Bulma sat together in the kitchen, drinking the wine in the dwindling rays of the sun."You know," Bulma said, her face glowing bright red after six glasses, "You might be short, but you're still a hottie".

Vegita, who'd never been called that before wondered if he was supposed to say or do something.

"Any more wine?" he asked.

Bulma nodded and stumbled out of her seat into the splattered cooking area and returned with another bottle.

They didn't even bother with glasses this time.

The sunset filled the green bottle and made the wine sparkle like liquid fire.

"Vegita," Bulma slurred,"have you ever been in love?"

"Love? Love?!" Vegita laughed, "never!I don't know the meaning of the word."

"Why not? Why are you so cold all the time?"

Vegita gave her a guarded look, Bulma's chair screeched as she pulled it nearer.

And then suddenly, she kissed him!

Vegita was so shocked he dropped the bottle. Shiny green glass splintered on the floor as the remainder of the wine snaked across the floor in a scarlet stream.

* * * *

THE END?

* * * *

Sorry…I didn't know how else to end it.Even as it is, this is by far the mushiest thing I've *ever* written.Heh heh heh…again, my apologizes for Vegita's character and taking so long ^^;; my life's such hell.

Anywho, THANX for reading!And I promise not to talk anymore if u review this.lol. Thanks again ;0)


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